Three local veterans approached the Bellefontaine Joint Recreation District (BJRD) Board of Trustees at their regular meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 1, with a heartfelt request: to establish a monument in downtown Bellefontaine for those who served their country more recently.
The idea came out of one of their Vets to D.C. trips.
“We want to mark all wars and conflicts since Vietnam,” Army veteran David Lamb told the board. There have been 13 such conflicts during that timeframe, including the Gulf War and Operation Enduring Freedom.
As part of the Veteran Monument Project, Lamb provided an image of what they have in mind and said they’d like it to be near the town’s Vietnam memorial but still separate. They plan to set it on a 12 feet by 12 feet pad with a sidewalk.
Kris Myers, parks superintendent, plans to work with the veterans to find the right spot. According to Lamb, they haven’t started fundraising for the monument yet, adding, “This is our first step.”
The board unanimously approved the project.
Next, the board heard from Bellefontaine Councilman Nick Davis, who serves as the parks board liaison. Davis updated them on two council actions: the adoption of an ordinance accepting the donation of a strip of land north of the city cemetery, and the first-reading approval of an ordinance related to a bond initiative.
That bond issue came up later in the meeting under new business. Board president Pat Ellis introduced the initiative, stating, “We have this opportunity from Mark Fissel, the city treasurer, to borrow money early so we can start on projects early.”
According to Ellis, Fissel presented an opportunity for the parks board to borrow $5 million at the end of 2024 and another $5 million in early January 2025. And though the cost would hit $750,000 a year for the life of the 20-year loan, the interest on the money would lead to a six-figure payout for parks’ projects.
“This is a really interesting concept that wasn’t a choice five to six years ago,” Myers said. “It took me three meetings to understand it.”
Once he did, Myers agreed $750,000 was “a scary number,” but getting that $10 million sooner rather than later would provide the funds they need to get started on two anticipated parks’ projects: rebuilding Harmon Park in 2025, and having the new pool ready by the summer of 2028.
“It will allow us to build a nest egg. We could make as much as a million in interest over three years,” Myers stated.
Because they needed to move fast, Ellis and Myers met with the council before they brought it to the BJRD board. With that in mind, Myers added, “If you’re concerned about this, we can shut the door.”
Understanding there are still several steps before it becomes a reality, the board passed the initiative.
In other park business:
- Youth basketball registration is underway. As part of that, the parks department has asked parents of players in the fourth- through sixth-grade age group if they’d prefer to have games at the Bellefontaine Elementary School on Saturday mornings or at the intermediate school on Saturday afternoons.
- Ring of Lights will start at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19, at Blue Jacket Park with a rain date of Sunday, Oct. 20. This annual trick-or-treat event is for children in preschool through second grade.
- After needing to do a lot of watering through the September drought, the three-and-a-half inches of rain the area finally got means the maintenance team is mowing again.
- Some maintenance equipment needs to be sold, including a couple mowers.
- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has finished a preliminary site assessment for a new wetland area at Myeerah Nature Preserve. Then the Ohio Soil and Water Conservation pulled up four-foot soil cores as part of that project.
- In the end-of-season report for Hoffman Pool, Myers said they saw $94,000 in revenue. And though season pass sales were down, they sold more daily tickets. “The Bellefontaine council and park board are unified in providing this service to the families in our community,” Myers concluded.
- The parks department brought in an additional $60,000 through concessions.
- Myers also presented the 2025 temporary budget of $899,000, which the board approved. Part of that budget includes a new maintenance person to handle their smaller projects.
The next BJRD board meeting will be Tuesday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m.